(Texas Scorecard) – House leadership is ducking a vote on the usual housekeeping resolution and is instead planning on raising office budgets—including a potential new $4,000 monthly stipend to Democrat vice-chairs.
The Housekeeping Resolution—HR 3 this cycle—is a routine resolution passed at the beginning of each session that addresses things like staff pay and other internal matters.
Speaker Dustin Burrows confirmed on Monday that they would not be taking up the resolution and would, instead, make the changes to the office budgets without a vote.
The resolution was originally slated to be voted on over a week ago but was postponed after State Rep. Mitch Little (R-Lewisville) found a point of order with a controversial provision that would have allowed the speaker of the House to hire an attorney to file lawsuits on behalf of the House.
State Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth), the resolution’s author, instead claimed it was being delayed so that certain financial provisions could be brought in line with current budget projections.
Last Thursday, meanwhile, the House voted to approve new rules that would require that every vice-chair of a committee be a Democrat. In addition to expanding their powers, the provision reportedly will also come with a $4,000 office budget increase for those Democrats selected as vice chairs.
State Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Deer Park) told Texas Scorecard that the move was “unprecedented” after going back through decades of House journals. That sentiment was also echoed by numerous other state lawmakers.
This is just the latest move from Speaker Dustin Burrows, who critics have called tyrannical after the House rules were passed last week without any amendments or debate allowed.